Escape
by FreedomWithWings
Summary: SPOILERS FOR TLG. Foaly was wrong. Artemis was not a free-floating spirit wandering the Earth during the six months following the incident at the Beserker's Gate. With a score of -1, Artemis was sent to the Underworld, with a deadline to escape in time to enter the clone. And worse still, a particular megalomaniac pixie was waiting for him there, thirsty for revenge.
1. Death

Surprisingly enough, death was nowhere near as painful as Artemis thought it would be.

Initially after the green mist was sucked back towards the Berseker Gate, Artemis found himself still standing, relatively unharmed and most importantly, alive. A glimmer of hope rose in his chest._ Perhaps, just perhaps, I am wrong for once, and my human genes are able to overcome Bruin Fadda's magic. Maybe I'll survive._

The next instant, Artemis realised that his soul was being dragged out of his body. _Excellent, I am still right after all_, Artemis thought grimly. Admittedly, this process was more uncomfortable than excruciating. He felt like a butterfly emerging out of its cocoon.

However to his greater dismay, Artemis found that his spirit was still tethered to the human realm. While his body fell off like a discarded coat to the ground, a golden chain grew from the chest of his soul, linking his spirit to the exact same spot on the earth where he fell. Artemis gripped the chain hesitantly. A slight tingle rose from the cold chain into Artemis' hands, causing him to shiver slightly.

Artemis could feel his soul going into shock at the turn of the events. Artemis Fowl the Second, dead at fifteen years old. And he had yet to finish forging the Mona Lisa! In an attempt to calm his soul, Artemis detached his mind from the situation, analysing the current predicament as if he were a third person and not a scared spiritual entity.

Through his eyes, the world seemed like it was underwater with ripples and waves. Artemis watched as Butler raced towards his falling body. He felt his bodyguard's cries like if it were his own, as Butler realised that his charge has passed away. Butler's protests and denials seemed to come from miles away with echoes. His chain ached as he saw Holly drop to her knees, as he fully understood the pain his sacrifice had left to those who truly cared about him.

_Father, Mother, Butler, Holly, I am truly sorry for the damage my actions have caused to all of you, _Artemis thought. He leaned forward and touched Holly tentatively, and was not surprised when his hands passed right through Holly. After all, he was now a different entity from the living, and maybe in a separate dimension from the others.

As Artemis tugged his chain, he conjectured that the chain was perhaps to allow the soul to have a last look in the world he used to reside in, to contemplate and reflect back on the life he had. However, taking into account that Bruin Fadda's magic only allowed fairy souls to pass on to the afterworld, he supposed that he was left behind in the human realm, and worse still, imprisoned to this exact spot by the chain.

Artemis watched as Butler carried his body, like how a parent would carry his child back to the Fowl Manor, while Holly trudged along. He tried to follow, but was only able to make a few steps before his chain became taut and prevented him from moving further. Artemis sat on the floor, utterly resigned. _Assuming that Foaly is intelligent enough to decipher my clues and is able to grow the clone, I would have approximately 6 months before the clone is grown to a suitable size. _

_ In that case, what should I do to pass the time, to not let boredom make me become as mad as a Hatter, worse still, Opal Koboi?_


	2. Assessment

It was about a month later before anything out of the ordinary happened. To Artemis, that month felt like a whole lifetime of emotions, most of which he was a stranger to. He felt his heart break as he witnessed his parents break down at the spot where he died. He was touched at how his family and friends came over every few days, to sit around or to share how life had been after the Great Techno-crash. And most of all, Artemis felt helpless that he could not respond or assure them that he was fine, if not extremely bored. In the meantime, with his mind still as sharp as a blade, Artemis solved many unprovable theorems, and composed a full symphony in his head to while the time away.

Artemis also spent time experimenting whether spirits have any special abilities or power. He was disappointed to realise that even with his great intellect, any power that he had was a severely limited one. After many attempts to bend space, all that he achieved was to coax a rose seed to land on the location where he died. Artemis was doubtful that the rose seed would even germinate, much less bloom or reproduce.

Artemis was starting on his second symphony, when he spotted a goth teenage boy strolling towards him from the corner of his eye. The goth had spiky black hair, with numerous earrings and skull-related accessories. A stereo radio was slung on the boy's shoulder as he stood in front of Artemis, staring at the teen genius in the eye.

"You can see me," Artemis said, more of an acknowledgement than a question.

The goth rolled his eyes in response. "Duh. I'm a reaper." The goth boy placed the radio on the floor and pressed the play button. Heavy metal music began blaring out of the radio.

_You are dead! But you are never alone! For we're there! To bring you to the other side! _Artemis winced as the singer screamed his lyrics and the beat caused the ground to shake. Artemis was about to come up with a sarcastic retort, when he realised that it was not a good idea to argue with the entity who decided where he would be going in the afterlife. He bit his lips as he endured the torturous song, releasing a sigh of relief when it was over.

The reaper gave a smile that was just about as authentic as Nigerian scams. "Well, Artemis Fowl the Second. We apologise for leaving you behind in the human realm for such a long period of time. After all, who knew that a human would die in a spell that only targeted fairies?"

"But anyway..." The goth paused as he spat a gum out, which fizzled away with a silver sparkle without touching the ground. "I'm now here and I'm going to decide where you are supposed to go." Artemis opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to ask him to cut to the chase but the goth ignored him. "To heaven or hell of course," the goth continued. "But we prefer calling the latter 'The Underworld'. Sounds a little more friendly, you know. Scares them puny souls less."

"Now... let the master of your fate decide where you gonna go..." the reaper drawled on. Artemis was finding it difficult to resist snapping back. The reaper snapped his fingers, and Artemis's eyes widened as the both of them were suddenly transported into another dimension. Darkness engulfed Artemis, with small, white twinkling stars around him providing the only illumination. The space seemed to stretch to all infinity. For once, Artemis felt insignificant, in the face of the immense power that he could feel was examining him.

Artemis's life stories were played from various screens hovering all around him, with every of his past actions laid bare for all to see. However, the intense, sombre moment was unapologetically broken by a dry laugh beside him. "Hmm... you were a nasty one, weren't you," the reaper smirked. "Countless incidences of theft, forgery, cheating. And oh my, kidnapping a fairy! I really have nothing to say about that!"

The reaper glanced at Artemis before continuing. "But oh well. On the other side, you have done your fair share of good stuff. Pushing for environmental causes, saving both the fairy and the human races numerous times. Maybe that will be your redemption."

The goth reaper snapped his fingers again, making a huge screen with a huge zero shining on it appear in front of them.

"Sigh, this is like my zillionth time explaining this," he muttered under his breath before continuing, impatience underlying every word. "Well, this is the board which will decide your fate. Starting from zero, good deeds will be add to the number, while bad deeds will result in a subtraction. A positive number means that you will go to heaven. While a negative one... I say you know what will happen. Don't ask me what happens if it ends up at zero. It never does."

Numbers began to roll across the screen, causing Artemis's eyes to spin as he stared at it. Deep within himself, Artemis was utterly nervous. He was so slightly irritated at his helplessness, while he watched the screen decide his fate. Eventually it concluded with a number, shaking Artemis's core like an earthquake.

The number was -1.

Artemis felt his heart sink into a bottomless pit, as he cursed his bad luck. If only he had not hacked into the school computer when he was six year old, if only he had just made fewer sarcastic remarks to Foaly, he could have gotten a positive number. He could have avoided going to the underworld and facing whatever horrors that lay there. _Worse still, is that megalomaniac Opal Koboi there too?_

Artemis could not help but break his previous promise of not arguing with the reaper. "But this is patently unjust," Artemis said. "I had so many accomplishments that no other human on Earth has ever come close to. I rescued both the human world and the Lower Elements so many times. I even sacrificed myself to save the entire human race. That should allow me to get a positive number, shouldn't it?"

The reaper gave a sincere smile for the first time, taking Artemis aback slightly. "Truth be told, I understand what you mean," the reaper replied quietly. "But rules are rules. I'm just a reaper. I have to follow. And so must you." The smile disappeared as quickly as it came. "Well, since you got -1, you will have to stay in the Underworld for one _holtz_. _Holtz _being a measurement of time in the Underworld. Don't ask me how it works, figure it out yourself there."

The reaper stretched out his right arm, with his hand holding two golden pass as he said loudly, "The Underworld". The golden passes disappeared as two identical black portals appeared in front of them. The reaper gestured to Artemis to enter any one of the portals. For both would lead to the same dreaded destination.

Artemis sighed in response. "I suppose that if I don't go willingly, you'll drag me in there yourself." Artemis took a deep breath as he stepped into the portal on the left and faced whatever that lay beyond.


End file.
